Have Hot Wheels been raised to the status of high art? Quite possibly.

For some, it is an item of deep meaning and contemplation: It represents the thrum of the unsleeping City of Angels, the perpetual motion unceasing. Viewed from above, it’s as if you’re watching blood course through the maze of veins, bringing oxygen to our organs and muscles. For the rest of us, Chris Burden’s Metropolis II might simply be the greatest Hot Wheels track ever devised.

Metropolis I, built two years ago, utilized 80 Hot Wheels around a pair of single-lane highways; a monorail was also included. It was quickly purchased by the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. What you see here, the sequel, is far larger: 1,200 Hot Wheels circulating throughout the city, 18 lanes of traffic (much like the 405 near the airport, ha ha), a baker’s dozen trains and lines, and buildings made from various materials many of us would recognize from our childhoods — not just tiles and wooden blocks, but also Lincoln Logs and Lego bricks. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will be claiming Metropolis II upon completion.

The finishing touches are being put on now; click above for a hypnotic two-minute video of Metropolis II.

I think the enormous background racket was from the cars themselves. Hard to see how hydraulic drive would make it silent. Bit difficult to add narration because of the noise too. Can’t imagine it going all day in LA art museum without the noise driving everybody nuts. Can’t be doing the paintwork much good – hope there aren’t any rare HW’s in there! A bit like those collapsing domino layouts that are so fascinating to watch but in a totally new way. I love it. Hope I get one for Xmas! I wonder if Mattel bid for it?

Major fan of Hot Wheels, Sizzlers, slot cars, trains, and custom layouts. However, this one struck me as oddly cold, about as interesting as a machine that makes candy or an automated packaging system. Sure, it’s cool for a few minutes, but then….

I just can’t shake the feeling of the enormous waste of time on this one for the level of results. But that’s just me.

Basically either an exercise in material handling technology (but without the conveyors since the cars have their own wheels) or material handling for production (think food bottles being filled, labeled, and packed by machine). Anyone who has seen a major product distribution center would feel comfortable when seeing this.

He also appears to have modified the cars by painting their windows (maybe weighting them?) along with just choosing certain sizes and types of vehicles. The brushes would help to swipe down the vehicles that may jump up.

All that said, I guess I have to make one to sell for some outlandish price as ~”ART”~…

This is incredible. When my son was small, his father build an incredible HO train track that covered two pieces of plywood. The entire thing sat on two foldout tables…. until Godzilla (the walking baby in a diaper) was tall enough to reach up and pull the intricate telephone lines and other items off the table. We then switched to hotwheel tracks and got pretty wild. We found a monorail that had night lights and ran on the tracks, it was very cool. I’m still crazy about hot wheels and would go wild for something like this in my dream house some day! It’s amazing!

There’s always been a fun display at the L.A. Museum that has balls dropping along many carefully configured objects, rolling along tracks, spinning things and more. I imagine this will be perfect in the same room. I’ve grown up with that exhibit and can’t wait to visit to see Metropolis ll.